Elizabeth Vargas was having a panic attack in the makeup chair while America waited for her to deliver the news. She looked calm. She sounded authoritative. And she was already thinking about which bottle of chardonnay she would open the second the cameras cut.
That is exactly why her story hits so hard for those of us who are sober or sober curious. She was not a tabloid regular or a reality star trying to rehab a brand. She was the calm, serious voice of American news, showing up in living rooms in a blazer, not a bandage dress.
While she was co-anchoring major broadcasts, filing hard-hitting pieces, and winning trust as a journalist, she was also drinking to quiet a brain on fire. In her memoir, Between Breaths, which we review in full at The Sober Curator, she pulls the curtain on what it looks like when “high-functioning” is actually high-risk.
From Local Reporter to Network Powerhouse
Elizabeth Vargas did what ambitious journalists dream of. She climbed from local news to network news, stepped into the high-stakes world of national broadcasts, and eventually became a mainstay on ABC News and “20/20.” Her face became shorthand for authority, credibility, and calm.
What viewers did not see was the pressure cooker behind that composure. Live TV is unforgiving. There are:
- Producers screaming in your ear
- Millions watching in real time
- Zero room for “my anxiety is acting up”
- And a wineglass waiting the second you wrap
There is no calling in with a spiral. You deliver. Always.
For someone wired with anxiety and perfectionism, that environment can feel like both a calling and a trap. That need to nail it every single time pairs a little too neatly with the idea that a glass of wine (or three) can take the edge off. When your entire career is built on appearing in control, it is incredibly easy to justify anything that helps you keep the mask on.
The gap between what we see on the screen and what actually happens off-camera is where so many sober celebrities, and sober civilians, end up living for far too long.
Anxiety, Chardonnay, and the Myth of “High-Functioning”
In Between Breaths, Vargas traces her anxiety back long before prime time. Panic attacks did not start in the studio. They followed her there. When she discovered that alcohol could temporarily mute that internal siren, it felt less like a vice and more like a miracle.
That is the seductive origin story for a lot of us:
- Big feelings, especially anxiety
- A substance that seems to fix it fast
- A culture that praises “taking the edge off”
- Zero honest conversations about the bill that always comes due
The phrase “high-functioning alcoholic” floats through her story like a bad joke. It allowed her, and the people around her, to pretend it was not “that bad.” She was still showing up for broadcasts. Still delivering strong reporting. Still wearing the exact right blazer at the exact right desk.
So how bad could it really be, right?
Pretty bad, as it turns out. In Between Breaths, Vargas writes about missing her sons’ school events, about covering tracks, about sitting in hair and makeup smiling at the camera while her body was sending alarm bells she had learned to ignore. She would plan her next drink while still on air. She would exhale into a wineglass once the cameras cut. The public version of Elizabeth Vargas was polished and professional. The private version was barely holding it together.
That is the gaslighting power of that label. If you are still succeeding, you must be fine. And “fine” is the most dangerous word in a high-functioning person’s vocabulary.
Vargas joins a long line of sober celebrities who had it all together on paper while quietly falling apart in private. For sober-curious readers, there is a particular sting in that story. It blows up the idea that success and pain cancel each other out. They can, and often do, coexist. Loudly.
Rehab, Relapse, and Getting Sober in Prime Time
Between Breaths does not try to tidy up the messy parts. Vargas writes about interventions, about going to rehab, about relapsing. She does not present recovery as a single turning point. It is a series of attempts, each one peeling back another layer of denial.
Getting sober is hard enough when your only audience is your group chat. Now add:
- Tabloid interest in your personal life
- Industry gossip about whether you are “reliable”
- A career built on being the steady one, the pro, the voice of reason
The stakes of seeking help when you are a public figure are sky-high. For a serious journalist, not a reality TV personality, going public about alcoholism and anxiety can feel like career suicide. You are not selling a comeback arc. You are risking the credibility you spent decades building.
That is where Vargas’ story gets especially brave. She did not just get help. She decided to talk about it on national TV. She named alcoholism. She named anxiety. She let the news anchor become the news.
At The Sober Curator, we call Between Breaths some of the most unvarnished quit lit out there. It does not read like a performance or a brand reset. It reads like what happens when someone who has made a living telling the truth finally turns that same spotlight on herself.
Reinventing on Screen and on the Page
Elizabeth Vargas did not disappear after sharing her story. She stayed in the game, but she changed how she played it. She leaned into hosting and documentary work, including projects that explore trauma, addiction, and resilience. Suddenly, her questions to guests carried a different weight, because the person asking them knew this territory from the inside.
Sobriety did not turn her into a different journalist. It sharpened the one who was already there. It gave her:
- A lower tolerance for euphemisms and half-truths
- A higher capacity to hold space for people in crisis
- Permission to bring humanity into a format that often prizes detachment
Among sober celebrities, there is a pattern we love to see: not just bouncing back, but rebuilding with sobriety as a core value instead of a secret hidden in the green room. Vargas is a textbook example. Her recovery did not cancel her career. It reoriented it.
A veteran news anchor openly naming alcoholism and anxiety also lands in a specific way for women. Women are often told to be grateful, to be quiet, to not “ruin” a good thing by bringing up the cost. Vargas refused that script. She showed that you can honor your ambition and still honor your pain. That you can love your work without sacrificing your sanity on its altar.
What Elizabeth Vargas Teaches Us About Telling the Truth
So what does her story actually teach us? For starters, it blows up the myth that competence equals wellness. You can be wildly impressive on paper and still be deeply unwell in private. Those two truths can sit side by side, holding hands.
It also stretches what we think a sobriety story gets to look like. It suggests that:
- Telling the truth about addiction can expand your life instead of ending it
- Sobriety is less about losing fun and more about gaining self-respect
- “Fine” is often the label we slap on situations that are slowly suffocating us
If you see yourself in any part of her story, that is not a diagnosis. But it might be worth a second look.
So here is the real question: What are you still pretending is fine? And what would happen if you stopped performing composure and just told the truth?
At The Sober Curator, we cover these stories because they crack open the idea that an alcohol-free life has to be beige or boring. Vargas shows us that sobriety can sit right next to ambition, microphones, makeup chairs, and breaking news. It is not a commercial break. It is the show.
If you are in the middle of your own story, or still figuring out what that story even is, you belong here. Browse our sober celebrities archive, or reach out and tell us what you are working through. We are listening.
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Resources Are Available
If you or someone you know is experiencing difficulties surrounding alcoholism, addiction, or mental illness, please reach out and ask for help. People everywhere can and want to help; you just have to know where to look. And continue to look until you find what works for you. Click here for a list of regional and national resources.
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Is Elizabeth Vargas sober now?
Yes. Elizabeth Vargas has spoken publicly about her sobriety and her ongoing recovery from alcohol use disorder. She has not shied away from discussing relapse as part of her story, which is part of what makes her account in Between Breaths so honest. Recovery is not always linear, and she does not pretend otherwise.
What is Elizabeth Vargas’s book Between Breaths about?
Between Breaths is Vargas’s memoir about her decades-long struggle with anxiety and alcoholism while working as one of the most recognizable journalists in America. She writes about the pressure of live television, the panic attacks behind the scenes, her time in rehab, and what it actually took to get honest about her drinking. It reads like quit lit that skips the tidy redemption arc.
What does high-functioning alcoholic mean?
High-functioning alcoholic is a term used to describe someone who continues to meet professional and social obligations while also drinking problematically. The phrase sounds almost like a compliment, which is exactly the problem. It gives everyone, including the person drinking, a reason to look the other way. Vargas’s story is a clear example of how someone can show up perfectly on camera while quietly falling apart off it.
How did Elizabeth Vargas go public about her alcoholism?
Vargas talked openly about her alcoholism on national television, a significant move for a journalist whose entire career was built on being the steady, credible one in the room. She later wrote about it in full detail in her memoir Between Breaths. Going public was not a PR strategy. It was the truth finally catching up to the broadcast.
Did Elizabeth Vargas relapse after going to rehab?
Yes, and she writes about it in Between Breaths without softening the details. Recovery is rarely a straight line, and Vargas does not package her experience as a one-and-done success story. That honesty is exactly why the memoir resonates with so many people in recovery who have been through more than one attempt.
What happened to Elizabeth Vargas’s career after she got sober?
She kept working. Vargas moved into hosting and documentary projects, including content focused on addiction, trauma, and mental health. Her career did not evaporate when her story became public. If anything, her experience gave her a different kind of authority in the room, the kind that comes from actually living what you are reporting on.
Is there a connection between anxiety and alcoholism?
For a lot of people, yes. Vargas traces her drinking directly back to her anxiety. Alcohol quiets the nervous system fast, which makes it an easy and accessible fix for someone dealing with panic attacks and high-pressure environments. The problem is that it is a short-term solution that makes the underlying anxiety worse over time. Her story is one of the clearest illustrations of how anxiety and alcohol use disorder often show up together.
Where can I find The Sober Curator’s review of Between Breaths?
The Sober Curator has a full review of Between Breaths in our books and quit lit section. We cover the memoir in detail, including what makes it stand out from the typical celebrity sobriety narrative. You can also browse our full archive of sober celebrity stories at thesobercurator.com.
